National disability charity Vitalise has rebranded to become Revitalise, “to better encapsulate its core values” and more accurately reflect what the charity does.

The charity specialises in providing holiday “breaks with care” for people with disabilities. It was founded over 50 years ago as the Winged Fellowship Trust and became Vitalise in 2004.

Chris Simmonds, chief executive of Revitalise, said: “By updating our brand we hope to add impetus to our ambitious plan to double our impact over the coming years by opening three more centres. A more readily identifiable brand will be key to the success of this mission and we’re very hopeful that the new name Revitalise will give us just that.
 
“However, beyond everything, our mission remains exactly the same. Underpinning everything we do is one simple, immutable belief - everybody needs a break.”

As part of the rebrand, the charity has a new strapline: “Respite holidays for disabled people and carers”.

New holiday features are being introduced alongside the respite care packages, including themed excursions and entertainment.

The charity, which reported an income of £7.7m last year, subsidises the cost of its breaks through its own fundraising efforts and through its Joan Brander Memorial Fund, which was set up in memory of Revitalise’s founder.

A spokesman for Revitalise told Civil Society News the cost of the rebrand will be spread over several years.

"The full rename will not be completed for a few years," he said. "We have not ordered new stock and will wait until our existing stock runs out before ordering rebranded stock.

"But we’ve been extremely prudent in our spending as we wanted to make sure that any costs did not impact on our guests. Our consultation with Bell Pottinger was pro bono and a great deal of our rebranding activity was done in-house.

"We’re hoping that this rebrand will add momentum to our ongoing ‘Beyond Respite’ Capital Campaign, so we can open more centres and cater for more disabled people and carers in future."